2026: The year landlords finally lose their nerve

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2026: The year landlords finally lose their nerve

Well, thank goodness 2025 is over! It was bumpier than even I imagined but what will 2026 bring? More of the same, I fear.

I think 2025 will go down as the year the UK’s private rented sector finally cracked, not because of one single blow, but because the cumulative weight of bad policies, hostile politics (and politicians) and clear disrespect for those who provide homes.

This year won’t just be another chapter in a long saga of regulatory change, what with tighter rules that disadvantage landlords, many of us will be asking: ‘What are we even doing here?’.

When the Renters’ Rights Bill first appeared I warned that landlords would effectively be handing control of their property to the tenant.

Many critics in the comments ridiculed the idea and claimed I was crying wolf.

Then the Renters’ Rights Act became law and landlords who read the small print were the ones doing the crying.

I still can’t believe how many landlords don’t know what is coming.

I appreciate too that landlords in Scotland have seen a tricky 2025 with rent cap legislation coming in and landlords in Wales having to deal with what appears to be the ludicrous Rent Smart Wales scheme. I feel your pain.

The landlord exodus

So, here’s the hard truth many landlords, tenant organisations and media pundits won’t want to admit, there is definitely a landlord exodus underway across the UK.

It’s not a media myth, it’s real and 2026 will see it accelerate.

Those that have gone, or are currently selling, are the opening act of an end of the pier show called ‘End of the small landlord’.

Most landlords will agree the end of Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions is the line in the sand.

Add to that the effective rent cap since tenants can object to rent rises, not refusing pets and periodic tenancies.

We will have in place, thanks to Labour, what is a tenants’ charter that doesn’t level the playing field at all.

Having a law that cripples those who provide homes isn’t a long overdue correction.

This biggest change to the PRS in 30 years is simply a way to force more landlords out.

Struggle for possession

But maybe that’s the point. Increasing the risk of arrears and struggling to regain possession is the aim.

I like what critics say about Two Tier’s crackdown on free speech on social media.

Arresting people for expressing an opinion means the process is the punishment. People are silenced by the fear of arrest.

Now we have a PRS that gives tenants all the power and yet leaves landlords with all of the liability.

For those small landlords who have strived to buy a home for your pension and house someone, I am truly sorry for what is about to happen.

If you get bad tenants who don’t pay and trash your home, you will become a charity offering free housing.

Forget your hard work and sacrifice, Labour, and for that matter, the Conservative, don’t like you.

Landlords will be bankrupted

Of course, tenant groups are celebrating this as justice long overdue and are now pressing for more action, including rent caps.

But landlords can’t pay fines for small mistakes by using the moral high ground since the new enforcement powers being handed to councils are horrific.

Fines of up to £40,000 and rent repayment orders, mean a single slip could bankrupt a small portfolio.

Councils can’t provide enough homes and those they have are regularly criticised by regulators for being in poor condition.

But they won’t get bankrupted, will they?

Though with the temporary housing bill going through the roof, they might start appreciating what private landlords actually offer.

Not only are landlords being discouraged, but we are seeing the PRS being dismantled in real time.

And there’s nothing we can do to stop it.

No one is on our side.

We know what’s coming

As we progress through 2026, we’ll get to see the leaflet we have to give tenants before May about their RRA rights.

Nothing about landlord rights, obviously, like paying your rent on time and not destroying the property.

Then we have the sledgehammer of energy efficiency rules, EPC deadlines, Making Tax Digital and rising statutory compliance costs.

How much will it cost to be on the landlord’s database with our private information freely available?

Social housing advocates and campaigners will openly talk about holding landlords to account, as if they haven’t caused enough damage as it is.

By the end of the year, we’ll see that if enough landlords do leave, the only ones left standing will be the big corporate players who can absorb costs.

They will also lobby for exemptions, and squeeze yields until tenants end up paying more anyway.

Perhaps our critics and haters will appreciate the real paradox of 2026 that policies designed to protect tenants will end up shrinking supply and pushing rents up.

We all know that if you remove the incentives, the behaviour changes and this could be the toughest year for landlords in decades.

Even worse, without small landlords the PRS will look like a heavily regulated quasi-welfare housing system.

For many of us, that’s not reform, it is redundancy dressed up as equality.

Until next time,

The Landlord Crusader

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